Even
if you have studied for a while in your home country,
you still have to apply for admission to a degree course
at the German institution of your choice. There are
three exceptions to this rule:

Applications
from DAAD scholarship holders are handled by the
DAAD. These students do not have to seek preliminary
admission from the university or college of their
choice.

When
the university of your choice is a member of the
Admission Service ASSIST, you have to send your
application via ASSIST

If you
want to study a subject for which admissions restrictions
apply throughout Germany (Numerus clausus - NC
subject) and are a so-called educational national,
i.e. you gained your higher education entrance
qualification (Abitur, etc.) at a German school
or at a recognised German school abroad, or if
you are a national of a European Union country,
then you can apply, like German nationals, to
the Central Admissions Office

We
will help you with the admission requirements, whether
your secondary school-leaving certificate or your qualification
for admission to higher education, respectively, is
sufficient for direct admission to higher education
institutions in Germany or if you will be required to
take the Assessment Test (Feststellungsprüfung).

Here
we provide an application form for admission to studies
for foreign applicants. Please note that some Higher
Education Institutions in certain federal states of
Germany (e.g. Bavaria) do not accept the application
form you find here.

Please
make sure before applying to a certain University or
Fachhochschule that the application form will be accepted.

Conatct us for more
details:

Please also note, that
you have to send your application via the Admission
Service ASSIST when the university of your choice is
a member of ASSIST

Certain
subjects are so popular that there are not enough study
places. German and international students are then subject
to a selection process in which the average marks gained
in the "Abitur" or the equivalent foreign
higher education entrance qualification (in most cases
the school leaving certificate) determine admission.
There are disciplines subject to restricted admissions
("Numerus clausus") throughout Germany (e.g.
medicine, pharmacology), while others are only subject
to regional or local restrictions. Since great importance
is attached to enabling foreign citizens to study at
German institutions of higher education, a certain percentage
of study places in restricted admissions subjects have
been reserved for international applicants. See this
as encouragement and go ahead and apply for these subjects
as well.

As
soon as you have received notification of admission
("Zulassungsbescheid") from the International
Office ("Akademisches Auslandsamt") and taken
the language test, you can register as a student at
the respective institution of higher education (you
will be given a registration number, "Matrikelnummer").
The notification of admission also tells you by when
you should register. Please note that the deadlines
are often short-term and that you usually have to appear
in person! Registration takes place at the Registrar's
or Admissions Office ("Studentensekretariat"
or "Immatrikulationsamt"). The procedures
differ from one institution to another, so get hold
of a copy of the information leaflet from the Registrar's
Office well in advance. This will tell you which documents
you have to bring with you, eg. certificates, usually
the originals with certified translations. In any case,
apart from the notification of admission, you will have
to produce a health insurance certificate ("Krankenversicherungsnachweis")
unless you fall into one of the exceptional categories
exempt from compulsory insurance cover.

Public
(state-maintained) universities in Germany do not generally
charge tuition fees. Some Master's programmes and the
additional fees charged by some of the federal states
are exceptions to this rule. Additionaly, you will be
required to pay a minimal social contribution ("Sozialgebühr")
which can extend 50 euros depending on the institution,
which will entitle you to a student identity card, a
course record book (at universities), and several registration
certificates ("Immatrikulationsbescheinigungen").
By registering and paying the social contribution at
some institutions you become entitled to a so-called
"Semester Ticket" which allows you to use
public transport during the semester free of charge.
The charge for the social contribution is increased
accordingly. Now you are a certified student in Germany.
The student identity card is usually a computer print-out,
although some institutions have introduced an identity
card (similar to a credit card) so that certain administrative
procedures, such as registration renewal, course registration
and library lending, merely involve inserting the card
into a machine. You need the registration certificates
when applying for student accommodation or for obtaining
reduced-price fares from the transport companies.

Registration
at German institutions of higher education is only valid
for one semester. If you want to continue studying in
Germany subsequently you have to submit a registration
renewal declaration ("Rückmeldeerklärung")
for the next semester to the Registrar's Office. This
you will receive together with your course record book
("Studienbuch"). Similarly, each semester
you will have to produce a new insurance certificate
from your health insurance agency and pay the social
contribution (and the semester ticket where applicable).
There are closing-dates for renewing registration which
are posted in the Registrar's Office and contained in
the university catalogue. Please note that you will
be exmatriculated if you fail to renew your registration
in time!

With
your course record book you will receive a registration
sheet ("Belegbogen") for noting the lectures
and seminars you have attended. You need it for registering
for examinations, together with the course certificates
("Scheine"), proving you have taken part in
the mandatory parts of your course. At many institutions
(especially Fachhochschulen) the requirement to provide
documentary evidence has been waived but the registration
sheet can be very useful for informing your own institution
at home what lectures and seminars you have attended
abroad.

Just
registering at the Registrar's Office is not always
the end of the procedure. As a rule you will have to
register in writing at your department or departments,
too. Enquire at the secretary's office as early as possible
whether and when you need to call there and which documents
you should take with you. At registration you will receive
a seminar card ("Seminarkarte") which you
have to renew each semester. The seminar card can only
be collected at specific times, too, and these will
be posted in the department.
N.B.: Due to the fact that some courses are far too
full many professors now require students to register
for their lectures and seminars before the semester
begins. When a certain number has been reached, registration
is simply closed. So do enquire at the department well
in advance to which courses this applies.

Well,
as you are getting plenty of exercise running from one
office to the next you might as well pop round to the
Students' Union, AStA, or the Student Representation
at your institution, to pick up an International Student
Identity Card for about € 4-6. It entitles you
to reduced rate travel and entry tickets abroad. The
FIYTO-Card (Federation of International Youth Travel
Organisation) is also extremely useful. It offers a
lot of reductions on foreign travel to students up to
the age of 26. It is available from Student Services
("Studentenwerk") together with the Franco-German
Social Card which entitles you to eat at French university
restaurants and apply for accommodation in French student
hostels during the recess.

- The academic year comprises the winter semester (October,
1st to March, 31st) and the summer semester (April,
1st to September, 30th).
- Starting dates for the courses are usually April,
15th (summer semester) and October, 15th (winter semester).
The dates vary from one institution and from one federal
state to another. Precise dates in the Course Catalogue
or at the Foreign Student Office.
- Closing date for admissions applications at the Foreign
Student Office are July, 15th for the following winter
semester and January, 15th for the following summer
semester.
- Closing date at the ZVS in Dortmund is July, 15th
for the following winter semester, and January, 15th
for the following summer semester.
- The deadline for applications for the Medical students'
test is September, 15th.

How
do I get my study achievements recognised?

ECTS (European
Credit Transfer System) is the name of a system
which the European Commission introduced to facilitate
academic and student mobility. Under the SOCRATES/ERASMUS
programme, the ECTS promotes the recognition of study
achievements between European universities and colleges
and curriculum transparency. Many institutions have
already introduced the ECTS in some or all subjects.

After completing their
studies abroad, students' academic achievements (including
individual marks) are transferred by the ECTS and can
then be recognised.

If the ECTS does not
apply in your case, you should get the relevant academic
staff to certify that you have attended their courses
and collect all your course certificates and papers.
These will help you to demonstrate to your home institution
exactly what, when and how you studied in Germany.

Information is also
available from the Standing Conference of Ministers
of Education and Culture of the Länder (Standige
Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland - KMK), which, among
other responsibilities, is working on promoting the
international transparency of academic achievements
and is concerned with encouraging more foreign students
to take up their studies in Germany.

Foreigners applying
for admission to studies at a higher education institution
in Germany require, just like German applicants do,
a higher education entrance qualification. If this qualification
is recognised as equivalent to the German qualification,
the foreign applicant can be directly admitted to take
a course of academic studies in the chosen discipline.

Foreign applicants
holding a higher education entrance qualification which
is only conditionally comparable with a German qualification
may also be admitted to a course of academic studies,
but must pass an assessment test, the so-called Feststellungsprüfung
(or in full: Prüfung zur Feststellung der Eignung
ausländischer Studienbewerber für die Aufnahme
eines Studiums an Hochschulen in der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland), before they can start studying. Alternatively,
proof of one or two successfully completed academic
years of study at a higher education institution in
the home country may also counted.

Responsibility for
deciding whether or not a foreign higher education entrance
qualification is equivalent to or only conditionally
comparable to the German qualification lies with the
Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs in the German
federal states and is made on the basis of evaluation
standards. We will help you with whether your higher
education entrance qualification is equivalent to the
German qualification on the DAAD admissions database
or the database maintained by the Standing Conference
of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK)

The higher education
institutions themselves or the preparatory and foundation
courses Studienkollegs which they operate are fundamentally
responsible for getting students ready for the assessment
test (Feststellungsprüfung) and for setting it.

Holders of a higher
education entrance qualification which is recognised
as equivalent to the German general higher education
entrance qualification (Abitur) may commence their studies
as soon as they have proved that they are adequately
proficient in the German language by presenting a German
language proficiency certificate, the "Deutsche
Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang ausländischer
Studienbewerber" (DSH) or the TestDaF certificate.
Holders of the "Sprachdiplom der Kultusministerkonferenz
Stufe II", the "Zentrale Oberstufenprüfung"
awarded by the Goethe Institute or the "Großer
Sprachdiplom" or "Kleiner Sprachdiplom",
also awarded by the Goethe Institute, are exempted from
having to take the DSH or TestDaF tests.

The DSH
can only be taken at the university or higher
education institution itself..

Test DaF
can be taken in Germany as well as abroad.:

Graduates
: -

If you would like to
apply to a German higher education institution for a
course of graduate studies with the goal of gaining
a Master's, Magister or Diplom degree, then you must
initially seek placement in an appropriate
degree programme. The recognition of the study and examination
achievements and certificates which you already hold
will play a major role here. Please note that a foreign
Bachelor's degree is not always equivalent to a German
academic degree, but may, possibly, only be recognised
as an intermediate or preliminary qualification.

As a rule,
the secretariat of the faculty or department at the
higher education institution of your choice will be
responsible for this recognition.